LOS ANGELES (AP) - In Southern California, where urban sprawl meets pristine wilderness, one can stand on a backwoods mountain trail and be so close to the city as to still hear the rumble of traffic and make out a downtown skyline.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - President Barack Obama has apologized to California Attorney General Kamala Harris for causing a stir when he called her "the best-looking attorney general" at a Democratic fundraiser they attended together this week.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A California district attorney is facing possible disbarment after a judge found he conducted a conversation with a drug defendant without her lawyer present, lied about the conversation and failed to promptly disclose it to defense attorneys in the case.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A $16 million settlement over the safety recall of Toyota vehicles that were at risk for unintended acceleration and braking issues was announced Friday by Orange County prosecutors and Toyota Motor Corp.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Federal prosecutors claim a magistrate judge's ruling that the National Park Service purposely destroyed evidence in the wrongful death case of a 9-year-old boy who was crushed by a retaining wall in Northern California was based on findings that were "patently untrue."

SANTA ANA (AP) - A federal jury in Southern California awarded $6.5 million in damages Thursday to the family of a man fatally shot by police while he held a pistol-gripped water nozzle they mistook for a gun.

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA . (AP) - Rescuers who plucked a young woman on Thursday from a steep, rocky canyon wall said she was exhausted, had trouble breathing and likely could not have survived much longer than another day in the rugged Southern California wilderness.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - When vandals sliced a fiber-optic cable in the Arizona desert last month, they did more than time-warp thousands of people back to an era before computers, credit cards or even phones. They exposed a glaring vulnerability in the nation's Internet infrastructure: no backup systems in many places.

LONG BEACH (AP) - A woman accused of masterminding a scheme to kidnap two babies and pass them off as her own is a self-styled business mogul and motivational speaker described on one of her websites as one of the "kindest women you will ever meet."

LOS ANGELES (AP) - It could cost Los Angeles as much as $1.2 billion to restore much of its concrete-lined river to its natural state - more than twice the amount officials originally projected, according to a new report from the city's chief legislative analyst.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - An Arkansas lawmaker said Wednesday that the state should ban California wine as retribution for the West Coast state's law requiring egg-laying hens to be able to stand up, turn around and fully extend their wings.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A plan to pump $1 billion of water spending into drought-stricken California cleared the Legislature on Thursday and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown, who is expected to sign the legislation.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California Attorney General Kamala Harris asked a state court on Wednesday for permission to reject a proposed ballot initiative stipulating that anyone who engages in gay sex be killed.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Support for legalizing marijuana in California appears to be growing gradually stronger, amid talk of renewed efforts to bring a proposal to the state ballot to legalize its use, a statewide poll found Wednesday.